Footballers Unfiltered: Leon Balogun on player safety, online abuse and Glasgow being "spiritual home"

• Leon Balogun is the latest guest on Footballers Unfiltered with Joe Hart, a series uncovering the rarely heard side of football
• Balogun, now at Cypriot club Aris Limassol, discusses player safety, social media abuse and how Glasgow remains close to his heart
• Player unions are employing various methods to protect footballers against abuse 

Leon Balogun and Joe Hart have been on opposite sides of one football’s fieriest rivalries. Former Rangers defender Balogun and former Celtic goalkeeper Hart each won every domestic trophy available during their respective spells in Scotland.

Now playing in Cyprus for Aris Limassol, Balogun joined Hart for the latest instalment of Footballers Unfiltered, the series which enables players to have open conversations about the hidden side of football.

"The UK has become very special to me; Glasgow especially feels like my spiritual home," said Balogun. "You need thick skin to play for either of the clubs. If things don't go the way fans – who are the heartbeat of both clubs – expect it to, it’s not pretty. 

"You think, ‘should I go out for dinner tonight after drawing a game?’, which in almost every other club in the world would be completely fine. But there it’s like, ‘okay, you drew – you want to go out for dinner?’ Scrap that. Stay home."

While that passion is part of what makes football unique, it shouldn’t come at the expense of players’ wellbeing. FIFPRO’s Workplace Safety Report, which was released last year, highlights the scale and impact of violence and abuse by fans towards professional footballers in the men’s game.

The report, which drew on player interviews and a survey of 41 national player unions, highlighted:

• 85 percent of player unions agree that “in most instances the relationship between fans and players is very positive and should be cherished”;
• 76 percent of player unions said that workplace safety is a growing concern for professional footballers;
• 66 percent felt that in recent years parts of fan culture have “become increasingly more violent and abusive”.

"I don't want to step on anyone's toes because I know how important supporters are to our game, to our sport, but I feel that over the past 10, 15 years, there's a level of entitlement that has joined that that has become unhealthy," said Balogun.

The former Nigeria international, who was born in Germany, highlighted a particular instance of racism that he witnessed during a Bundesliga game. "I remember one time in 2017, maybe early 2018, we were warming up and they [opposition fans] started making monkey noises to one of my team-mates who's also Nigerian.

"I said to stop and then they went on to go against me. They got a life ban from the club in the end, which was nice to see, but you always wonder what can you do to just avoid it at all? Those are the type of things where I'm feeling like the entitlement has reached a level where people are just not scared anymore."

Balogun continued: "I think players are scared a lot of the time. If you take it away from racism, apart from personal experiences that players have where they felt they're not being taken seriously, and people are just saying, ‘no, it wasn't like that, you misheard it’, you feel like you're alone a lot of the time."

Online abuse

Abuse directed at modern-day players no longer comes solely from the stands; social media has opened an additional, often more relentless, avenue for it.

In 2022 FIFPRO, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) released the first international study looking at the nature and level of online abuse directed at professional athletes in multiple sports: Decoding Online Abuse of Players.

In the same year, FIFPRO and FIFA provided an in-tournament moderation service at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, known as the Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), that scanned recognised hate speech and, once detected, prevented that comment from being seen by the recipient and their followers. The SMPS support was also provided to players at the Women’s World Cup the following year.

“Social media has become this tsunami where voices of people get collected and they just flood you; you're just drowning in it if you don’t know how to deal with it,” Balogun said.

How unions are supporting

Indonesian player association APPI is tackling social media abuse with meetings between players and their abusers. In Indonesia, players can file a complaint for defamation when insulted on social media.

APPI has organised multiple meetings with players and their abusers, while also helping file cases with the police. APPI’s Deputy Chief Executive Gotcha Michel joined Balogun and Hart on their episode.

"Punishment alone doesn't always fix this behaviour. When players meet the abuser directly, that person often realises the impact," explained Michel. "Players can talk directly to the abuser about how it affected their confidence and their family as well. 

"Most of the time, the abuser genuinely apologises to the player, and they stop doing it because they understand the consequences."

Footballers Unfiltered is a monthly series celebrating FIFPRO’s 60th year of serving players. Browse all episodes from season one and two below: